Terre sans pardon

After the American Civil War, Captain Colt Saunders (Charlton Heston) returns to Texas to his homeland Bar S Ranch, which has belonged to his family for generations. While in town, he has an incident and meets the former gal from St. Louis Lorna Hunter (Anne Baxter) and without knowing her past, he immediately proposes and gets married with her. When they arrive in Bar S, he meets his brother Beauregard 'Cinch' Saunders (Tom Tryon), the black-sheep of the family that lost one arm in his childhood and blames Colt for the accident. Colt has problems with the commissioner Harrison (Bruce Bennett) of the corrupt provisional government of Texas, and the situation gets worse when one of his men identify Lorna as "a flower of the Old South with whom he used to skip around with back in St. Louis". Colt has to deal with problems with the corrupt representative of the government that is collapsing, with his rancorous brother, with his pregnant wife and with his closest friend Innocencio Ortega (Gilbert Roland).

"Three Violent People" is a reasonable western that shows an after-war period and its consequences. The story has some good moments, mostly when Anne Baxter participates in the role of a witty lady with a past that experiences love for the first time in her life. Charlton Heston fits perfectly to the role of Captain Colt Saunders. However, the conclusion is too much corny and moralist. Although not being a great movie, "Three Violent People" is a good entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil) "Trindade Violenta" ("Violent Trinity")

On "The Ten Commandments" Heston reach in the first echelon of the great actors, then came up the classy "Three Violent People" with a strong casting, re-telling the neuralgic matter over post-Civil war when the south was beaten by the north, where the movie displays a foul play over the provisional government that tries pass on the high coast of war in form in high taxes over the Texan's farmers.

Chuck plays a fearsome southerner Captain Cold Saunders that has a large farm Bar "S" on Texas, left by his grandfather which become crown jewel under the eyes of buzzards through the unpayable charges, when he returns to Texas he meets casually at street the beauty Lorna Hunter (Anne Baxter) that arrives in Town in order to joint with the old acquaint Ruby Lasalle's girls a sort of procuress, Cold get mesmerized with so touchy girl, unaware her checkered past whilst Lorna wants to tries explain.

After the marriage they headed to Bar "S" where an old Mexican Innocencio (Roland) and his numerous sons cared for of his farming during his absence, there Cold faces his crippled troublemaker young brother Cinch who had return a couple months ago, this unexpected facts let a cumbersome atmosphere to dealing, the things get worse when a man from provisional government recognizes Lorna from St Louis as Lasalle's girls, tumbling down the prouder Saunders who quickly demands her departure, thus Innocencio confide in that Lorne is pregnant.

Three Violent People is a great western showcasing how was the post-war, when the freeloaders tried managed to taken all southerner's landowners using as a guise the law of the war, also focusing in the second change that all people deserves when they haven't no choice upon the damages of the war

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First watch: 1981 / How many: 6 / Source: TV- DVD / Rating: 8.

This was the film Charlton Heston made immediately after The Ten Commandments and the last one on his original contract with Paramount Studios. For a co-star for Three Violent People, Heston got Anne Baxter who was Nefretiri in the DeMille epic.

Heston plays Colt Saunders, Confederate veteran who is trying to get back and re-start his ranch and keep it from the hands of carpetbaggers in from the north. He's got a one armed brother played by Tom Tryon who has issues to say the least. Tryon did not lose the arm in the Civil War, it was lost in an accident during childhood and Heston was the one who amputated it.

And if that's not enough Heston meets and marries Baxter without knowing anything about her. She's got a very shady past that comes out at a most inopportune time and drives a wedge between them.

There's a lot of the righteousness of Moses in Heston's Colt Saunders. Unlike in The Ten Commandments it's not a welcome virtue for Anne Baxter or for the audience.

Bruce Bennett and Forrest Tucker play a real pair of bottom feeding carpetbagger officials. And the always enjoyable Gilbert Roland plays the grand vaquero, foreman, of the Saunders spread.

Not a bad western, western and Heston fans will like it.

This is a thoroughly ordinary western with Charlton Heston heading the cast as a Civil War veteran returning home with his new wife (Anne Baxter) whom he ultimately discovers has had a rather dishonorable past. On top of that he has to deal with carpet baggers and the jealousy of his one-armed younger brother (played by Tom Tryon) who decides he has a lot of old scores he needs to settle. There's not very much to thrill about here, and none of our three principals are very "violent", but it's a treat to watch Baxter and Heston together again after their stint in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. For what it's worth, Robert Blake is featured in a role as a young Mexican. ** out of ****

Who he you may well ask ? He was one of the most unused and one of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood is the answer. Why was he underused ? He got indifferent roles, and his abuse from the so-called great director Otto Preminger on the set of ' The Cardinal ' probably might have made him felt ( quite rightly as it may have been because of his homosexuality ) fed up. In this good, but not great Western he shows a lot of his underused charisma, and his male beauty was exceptional. The scene where he meets up with his brother played by Charlton Heston is very homoerotic, but I doubt if the squeaky clean Heston noticed it. Needless to say they do not have many friendly scenes between them, and the ever watchable Anne Baxter tries to make up for this. The plot has been noted by reviewers so no need for spoilers. The direction by Mate is professional, but not inspiring and the rest of the cast do reasonably well. Gilbert Roland is in it and he was a big name then for audiences. Tryon raises it up in quality by his sheer force of presence. James Dean had it and as Dean saved ' Giant' so does Tryon save this one.